At the beginning of the 20th century, a philosopher spoke of the impending decline of the West. But he did not foresee one more thing: that the West would spread its culture throughout the planet and the whole world would be engulfed in this death throes. Today we are experiencing this decline, and since we are direct participants in events, everything that happens is extremely important to us. Whether the ideals we hold dear will survive the struggle, or whether some pernicious ideas will prevail—that is what is at stake. This is not an unfounded statement. Today we are experiencing a turning point in history, and our actions today determine whether society will begin to move forward from this moment or whether it will continue to slide down, degenerating into some kind of Middle Ages. It is important to understand that difficult situations do not arise out of nowhere. The decline of culture that we are now witnessing is not accidental. There was a reason for that. Until a person understands this, he will not be able to protect himself and will not be able to successfully carry his ideas into society. A society can survive for thousands of years if hostile forces do not attack it from within or without. When such an attack is launched, the primary targets are the gods and national heroes of that society, its potential leaders, and the self-esteem and integrity of its citizens. The material targets of attack are finance, communication lines, technology and resources. Look around you and you will see countless examples of such attacks. Every day when we look through the newspapers, these examples literally jump out at us. Perhaps the most important target in the "attack on culture" is the religious experience of a society. Where it is possible to destroy or undermine the religious foundations of a society, one can quickly cause the collapse of the entire structure of this society and turn it into ruins. Awareness of one's unity with society comes primarily through religion. It comes because you have experienced something with others. If the religious awareness of man's unity with society, and with it true trust and integrity, can be destroyed, then society itself becomes like a sandcastle that cannot withstand the unforgiving sea. For the last hundred years or so, religion has been relentlessly attacked on all sides. You were told that this is “the opium of the people,” that it is unscientific, that it is primitive; in short, this is a fallacy. But the main, albeit hidden, target of all these attacks on religious organizations was something more fundamental: human spirituality, your own spiritual nature, your sense of self-worth and your peace of mind. Perhaps this black propaganda has been carried out so successfully that you no longer believe that you are a spiritual being by nature, but I assure you that you are. Actually, it is not correct to say that you have a soul. It’s correct to say that you yourself are your soul. In other words, you are not your passport, your body or your mind. You are you. Convince a person that he is an animal, that his dignity and self-respect are just a delusion, that there is nothing higher to which he could strive. That there is no more perfect "I" that can be found - and you will end up with a slave. Tell a person that he is himself, a spiritual being, that he has the power to choose, that he has the right to strive for higher wisdom, and you will set him on the path to something sublime. There is no doubt that attacks on religion run counter to traditional human aspirations for spiritual fulfillment and ethical living. For thousands of years of existence on this planet, thinking people maintained their spirituality and considered spiritual enlightenment to be the highest wisdom. The radical concept that man is an animal without a spiritual nature has a name: “totalitarian materialism.” Materialism is the doctrine that "only matter matters." The apostles of this.